The Art of Wrestling – Adam Cole

corona_labelIt’s really easy to make fun of ROH so I’m going to do that while also highlighting one of their successes, Adam Cole and his t shirt. The part that I’ll make fun of is their website. We’re still a layout or two old in as far as a blog goes but then again we’re not owned by a broadcasting company. The page I came on to look at shirts is laid out like this which looks well enough because there’s only so many ways to list a bevy of items. The problem I have with it though is that the product that you are selling is the smallest item on the page. It should fill from break line to break line. If the wrestler is there to endorse their product, they should be wearing it. Why does ROH make the easiest jobs hard?

I like Adam Cole. He’s one of few people that would get me to come to an ROH event. It’s no surprise to me then that he has the best shirt in the company. He also follows a pattern that I’ve liked before, ripping off an iconic label and re-purposing it for his own means. In Cole’s case, he co-opted the Corona label and turned it into his shirt. To start at the basics, they use the same colors. Any good rip off has to at least follow the light and dark pattern that they evoke. The next part of the brand re-purposing is using the same text style as the original. In this case, Gothic lettering is used to say “Adam Cole”. To fill in the space below that, ROH put “Est. 2008”.

The crown is still used above the circle that bleeds into the yellow top of the image. The words “La Cerveza Mas Fina” means the “Finest Beer” at least according to Yahoo! Answers. Which is why I have a minor problem with this shirt. Instead of saying “The Finest Wrestler”, they put in “Key De Florida ROH” You have to brand your shirt but that’s a terrible place to put it. As far as I can tell, the back of the shirt doesn’t have anything on it so the ROH label should be there. Considering that Panama City isn’t in the Florida Keys, in fact is on the panhandle, they shouldn’t be using the word Key at all. This problem doesn’t wreck the shirt though. I just think it’s a missed opportunity.

The bottom portion of the shirt changes things up in a good way. Instead of the griffins flanking the button, they are using Palm Trees. It makes sense although one would think to stay in the creature motif and one that would invoke a tougher image that they could use alligator heads. Below that is more text “Imported From Panama City”. Considering that from time to time, ROH makes it still sound like it’s the territory days he could be “imported” from the same country. They have already used “established” though so you can’t reuse it. I don’t have a good solution except to eliminate it above, go with just the year and then use it below to make more sense.

Both of the problems with this shirt are minor. It should be mentioned again that there is nothing on the back of the shirt which makes this a wearable in public t shirt. Find a Sippy Time Beer, find a beach and export the money from your wallet for this shirt because ROH did something right. – Kevin

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